Source: Whoopee franchise likely on move June 27, 2002

By Phillip Ramati
Telegraph Staff Writer

A source close to the situation confirmed Wednesday that Jean Gagnon was trying to close a deal with the Elmore-Tuttle Sports Group that would move the Macon Whoopee's ECHL franchise to Lexington, Ky.

Gagnon, however, reached on his cell phone Wednesday, declined to name which franchise he was looking to buy.

"I think that's a question for (Elmore-Tuttle president) Dave Elmore," Gagnon said.

Elmore was out of town, according to his office.

Gagnon, a Canadian businessman who sold the Mississippi Sea Wolves last week and is close to finalizing the sale of the Dayton Bombers, did confirm that he was looking to move a team to Lexington.

No one from Macon Sports Group, the partnership that owns the Whoopee and leased the ECHL franchise, was available for comment. MSG has yet to announce its plans for the upcoming season as to whether it will field a team.

He also confirmed that one of his partners with the new team would be Michel Cadrin, who owned what became the Macon franchise during its final season as the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks two years ago. At that time, the ECHL penalized the Tiger Sharks for salary cap violations that ultimately knocked Tallahassee from the playoffs. Published newspaper reports at the time indicated that Cadrin turned in his own team to the league in order to save money by not making the playoffs.

Gagnon said that he hoped everything would be settled by Friday, when the league's Board of Governors meetings by conference call are to be wrapped up. ECHL president Rick Adams has declined to comment on any of the issues until the meetings conclude. Gagnon has tentatively set up a press conference for 2 p.m. Friday in Lexington to announce the new franchise.

While Gagnon wouldn't say which franchise he was purchasing, he did say that if it fell through, he had talked to other available franchises about moving to Lexington. Besides Macon, several ECHL teams have cloudy futures for next season, including the Greensboro Generals, the Louisiana IceGators, the Jackson Bandits and the New Orleans Brass. Greensboro has planned a Friday press conference to announce its plans for the future.

While selling his other teams, Gagnon believes the Lexington market is a good fit for hockey. The Kentucky Thoroughblades of the American Hockey League played there previously, but moved to Cleveland after lease negotiations with Rupp Arena fell through.

"I've been looking at Lexington since last October," Gagnon said. "There's been hockey there before. It was pretty successful, but the budget for the American Hockey League was too high. The ECHL budgets are less than half of the AHL. It should be successful."

Gagnon added that he was also looking to have partners from the Lexington area.

"I've been talking to a lot of people there," he said. "There should be a local flavor to the team."

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